Tim Cook has tweeted his condolences in the wake of the tragic death of actor and stand-up comedian Robin Williams, at age 63.

Cook wrote that he is “Heartbroken by the news of Robin Williams’ passing. He was an incomparable talent and a great human being. Rest in peace.”

In addition to his classic roles in Good Will Hunting, Aladdin, Insomnia, Good Morning, Vietnam and too many other movies to name, Williams did have a connection with Apple. After the original Macintosh project was completed in 1984, Williams was brought in to perform stand-up for the Mac team.

Years later when Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, he wanted to use one of Williams’ speeches from Dead Poets Society for the “Think Different” ad campaign. Being told that Williams didn’t do commercials, Jobs personally phoned Williams at home, but the actor’s then-wife refused to put Jobs through to her husband, knowing how convincing the Apple CEO could be.

Earlier this year, Apple finally got its way when the audio in question was used for some of Apple’s “Your Verse” ads for iPad:

About the author

Luke Dormehl is a UK-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems, And Create More and The Apple Revolution, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme, and other publications. He'd like you a lot if you followed him on Twitter.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address) | Read more posts by Luke Dormehl.